Best Middle Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 3, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 773)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
441	E Lawson Brown Middle	Public	6-8	1140 Kendall Mill Road	Thomasville	27360	Davidson County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 475-8845	560	33	16.8	98.4%	421 (75.2%)	15 (2.7%)	96 (17.1%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (4.1%)	$7,929			$745			$7,183	43.9	33.7	543	102		370114000466
442	Andrews Middle	Public	6-8	2750 Business Hwy 19	Andrews	28901	Cherokee County	Cherokee County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 321-5762	167	13	13.1	97.6%	131 (78.4%)	3 (1.8%)	21 (12.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (6.6%)	$9,750			$1,000			$8,751	43.8	60.4	285	157		370078001820
443	Happy Valley Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	1350 Yadkin River Road	Lenoir	28645	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 754-3496	234	13	18.5	97.9%	212 (90.6%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.1%)	$10,168			$1,178			$8,990	43.7	38.4	502	59		370058000230
444	West McDowell Middle School	Public	6-8	346 West McDowell Junior High	Marion	28752	McDowell County	McDowell County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 652-3390	550	35	15.5	99.5%	413 (75.1%)	17 (3.1%)	88 (16.0%)	7 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (4.5%)	$9,132			$764			$8,368	43.7	38.7	500	56		370294001185
445	Classical Charter Schools of Whiteville	Public, Charter	K-8	35 Bacon's Way	Whiteville	28472	Columbus County	Classical Charter Schools of Whiteville	Yes	No	No	Yes	(910) 641-4042	842	19	44.6	90.4%	299 (35.5%)	222 (26.4%)	142 (16.9%)	6 (0.7%)	86 (10.2%)	0 (0.0%)	87 (10.3%)								43.7	54.9	338	107		370014002923
446	Apple Valley Middle	Public	6-8	43 Fruitland Road	Hendersonville	28792	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 697-4545	820	55	15	68.5%	383 (46.7%)	21 (2.6%)	355 (43.3%)	13 (1.6%)	2 (0.2%)	7 (0.9%)	39 (4.8%)	$9,107			$1,028			$8,080	43.4	43.3	457	11		370210000797
447	IC Imagine	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	110 Champion Way	Asheville	28806	Buncombe County	Invest Collegiate - Imagine	Yes	No	No	Yes	(828) 633-6491	1,239	93	13.3		928 (74.9%)	35 (2.8%)	163 (13.2%)	19 (1.5%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	92 (7.4%)								43.3	55.1	335	112		370036903340
448	River Bend Middle	Public	7-8	4670 Oxford School Road	Claremont	28610	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 241-2754	450	27	16.6	99.3%	211 (46.9%)	29 (6.4%)	85 (18.9%)	74 (16.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	49 (10.9%)	$8,304			$825			$7,479	43.2	38.9	497	49		370069002438
449	Next Generation Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	3740 South Holden Road	Greensboro	27406	Guilford County	Next Generation Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 271-9030	487	47	10.4	95.9%	11 (2.3%)	407 (83.6%)	33 (6.8%)	3 (0.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (6.6%)								43.1	21.8	639	190		370043503450
450	South Stanly Middle	Public	6-8	12492 Cottonville Road	Norwood	28128	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 961-5700	402	24	16.9	99.3%	260 (64.7%)	61 (15.2%)	42 (10.4%)	17 (4.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.2%)	$9,546			$628			$8,918	42.9	43.6	453	3		370432002547

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 3, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.